2nd Series 03/3 - Memories
by Laura the infamous B
Summary: In wanting to help Cosmo, Ace remembers when he first learned of his own 'abilties'


**Memories**   
by Laura Boeff 

Vega hauled himself out of his car as it settled on it's wheels and stretched expansively. Casually he kicked the door shut and strolled up to the drive where the Magic Express waited.   
He missed it. He wasn't going to admit it to anybody, but he actually missed living in the customized train. Sure as heck beat his apartment.   
Oh well. At least he could still visit, and was doing so.... at Ace's invitation of course.   
"Hello, Lieutenant Vega," Angel greeted politely as he rested his hand over the scan pad.   
"Hello, Angel," Vega returned as the door whisked smartly open. From the depths of the train he caught the snatches of raised voices.   
With a frown, he strolled down the hall. 'Now what?' he wondered idyll. Ace and Cosmo were most definitely having an argument. What about, Vega had no clue.   
"Look, I've told you before, there's nothing happening to me, okay." Cosmo's voice cut sharply as Vega paused outside of the library.   
"Cosmo," Ace started, with strained patience. "There is nothing wrong with you having abilities."   
"I don't have any special powers," Cosmo shouted back.   
'Ah,' Vega thought. 'This argument.' He leaned against the wall patiently. This really was not a discussion he wanted to interrupt.   
"Then explain how you knew," Ace tried gently. Vega smiled. He could almost picture the gentle, patient look Ace would have on his face. He could also picture Cosmo's brooding brow as he delivered his rebuttal.   
"Knew what?"   
Ohh, he was being stubborn this time. From the tone of Ace's voice Cosmo had been stubborn for quit a long time.   
"Knew I was alive, Cosmo." There was a pause and soft footsteps. "Cosmo, you can't ignore your growing abilities. It won't stop them from progressing and it could be very dangerous, for you and for others, if you don't learn to control them."   
"Look," Cosmo hissed. "I was just messed in the head Ace, everyone knows it!"   
Vega sighed. 'We were wrong, Cosmo,' he thought sadly. 'You weren't.'   
Vega, now that he understood, felt bad for the boy. Everyone had believed Ace was dead. There was a grave, there was a DNA matched corpse and a destroyed car to go with it. Everyone, including him, had tried to drive the point home to Cosmo, who wanted to believe, but instinctively knew it wasn't true. The discrepancy had nearly driven the teen insane.   
"There's nothing special about me okay? I hack computers, I work your equipment, I am not a magician," Cosmo argued, voice rising in exasperation.   
"You don't have to be a magician, Cosmo, but you can't ignore.."   
"Look," Cosmo interrupted. "I've got to go okay? I... I've just got to go."   
Vega listened as Cosmo's hurried footsteps faded into the distance. The teen had used the libraries other entrance, as Vega suspected he would. He knew the Magic Express inside and out now and knew which door offered fastest access to the vehicle bay.   
There was moments silence, then a noisy exhale and the sound of the couch being heavily sat upon. Smiling in sympathy, Vega rolled around the corner and leaned against the door frame.   
"Did I catch you at a bad moment?"   
Ace glared at his amused sarcasm, then sighed.   
"Hi, Derek. I see you actually got off work early." Ace gestured to a chair and Vega obligingly sat.   
"Still trying to get Cosmo to admit to his own abilities?" Vega asked, then smiled as Ace let out frustrated groan.   
"I have no idea why he's being so stubborn," Ace all but wailed, throwing his hands up. Vega chuckled, shaking his head. Both his friends could stubborn and when both were stubborn at the same time... watch out.   
"Take it easy on the kid, Ace. You can't make him accept it," Vega advised.   
"It not a matter of acceptance, Vega," Ace sighed, leaning his head back and staring at the sky beyond the atrium glass. "Whether he accepts it or not, the ability is still there and it will only get stronger."   
"So... what exactly can Cosmo do?" Vega asked curiously. The thought of Cosmo wielding any kind of magic still made him shudder, but better the devil you knew then the one you didn't. Ace obviously felt the same way as he threw his hands up in the air again.   
"I don't know! I can't even get him to talk about what he felt while I was... captured," he snorted.   
"I think I'd achieve more by banging my head against a wall Derek, I really do."   
Vega laughed and kicked his feet up on the coffee table, ignoring Ace's sideways look at the abuse of his furniture.   
"Ace, Cosmo just doesn't want to be different," Vega pointed out. Vega had never thought of himself as the father type, but after several weeks of being Cosmo's guardian he was starting to understand the younger generation better.   
"Different?" Ace's eyebrows arched comically. "This is Cosmo we're talking about, Vega."   
That only made Vega laugh harder. When he got suitable control of himself, he elaborated on his idea.   
"Okay, I'll agree with you there," he conceded. "But Cosmo still doesn't want to be seen as a... freak, I guess would be the best word."   
"Cosmo's not a freak," Ace snapped, his earlier humor disappearing in a cloud of indignation. Vega cocked an eyebrow at him. Ace's outburst seemed a little extreme and he suspected a tender cord had been touched. He tread carefully into his next sentence.   
"I'm not saying he is, but Cosmo has always viewed himself by other peoples opinions. I hate to say it, but some people will see him as a freak. Heck, some people look at you that way."   
Ace seemed ready to argue, then sighed, running a hand through his hair.   
"It shouldn't matter."   
"Ace, he's seventeen. Everything matters when your that age. Now you can't tell me it didn't scare you when you realized you could work magic. Real magic."   
Vega watched as Ace fiddled with an invisible snag on his pants. Yep, he'd found a sore spot all right.   
"How did you feel, Ace, be honest?" Vega prodded. Ace snorted and gave him a friendly glare.   
"Oh, your a therapist now?" he sniffed.   
Vega grinned. "Nope, I'm way cheaper."   
Ace laughed and shook his head. Vega always seemed to see right through him. From the very first day of their association to now. No secret was safe from the Lieutenant.   
"It scared me silly the first time I worked any real magic," he admitted at last. Ace groaned silently as Vega made himself comfortable, arms across his chest.   
"Your going to make me tell you," he pointed out. Vega gave him a wide eye innocent stare that wouldn't fool a blind man.   
"Me... never."   
"Okay, okay. I do admit, I know how Cosmo feels. God, it was so long ago," Ace sighed, stretching his long legs out on the same coffee table. "I discovered my abilities early..."

>   
"Come on, skunk stripe."   
"Stop calling me that."   
"Skunk stripe, skunk stripe."   
Ace fumed as he crawled under the decorative shrub after his friend Will. He hated that name! It wasn't his fault that he'd been born with the white stripe that traveled half way from his forehead over his scalp. The adults said that it was a birthmark, a lack of pigmentation in the hair.   
He called it a pain. From as far back as he could remember that stupid white stripe had earned him the nick-name skunk stripe.   
"When I'm older," he muttered to himself, ducking as a branch Will pushed past snapped back and zipped over his head. "I'm going to get rid of it."   
"Come on," Will demanded and guiltily Ace realized his mussing had made him slow down, falling behind.   
"I'm coming," he assured, doubling his pace till he squeezed out a thin spot in the thick shrubs and found himself sitting at a streams edge.   
"Wow," he commented. "This is cool."   
Will beamed at the assessment. "Told ya," he said, a touch smugly.   
>

"Skunk Stripe?"   
"Don't you even start," Ace warned. Vega assumed an air of hurt pride.   
"Now, Ace, we all had our nicknames," Vega assured, with a smile. Ace snorted.   
"Okay, what was yours?" To his delight, Vega blushed, and looked away.   
"That is one secret," he promised. "You will never learn."   
Ace laughed and Vega joined him.   
"God, I hated that name," Ace chuckled. "Where was I.. oh yea.."

>   
It was a stream, just a small one, but to two young six year olds it looked like a raging river. Will was already pulling off his shoes and socks as Ace inspected the muddy shoreline.   
"Will, if we get caught here..." Ace let the possibilities hang. They were well outside the orphanage and the punishment was very sever for anyone going outside the orphanage without permission.   
"Don't worry, Ace, I've been here dozen of times," Will assured, with all the air of an expert. While Will was Ace's age, he was bigger and thusly assumed himself to be the smarter of the two.   
It was hard to argue with someone who could knock you down and sit on you. Ace smiled with a touch of pride. Will might still win in their fights, but he was getting faster and more nimble. The bigger boy was having a harder and harder time making him say uncle.   
"Come on, ya slow poke," Will called, as he rolled up his pant legs. Ace grinned and starting pulling off his own shoes. He loved water. Someday, he would live near the water, maybe even get a house boat.   
"Do you think there are any fish in there?" he asked curiously. Will nodded, blond hair bouncing enthusiastically.   
"Yea, they even bump into you once in a while," he confirmed.   
"We should make some fishing poles," Ace suggested, setting his shoes safely up on the beach, well away from where Will could chuck them in the water.   
"Why would you want to, we can't keep the fish?" Will asked. Ace shrugged.   
"We could let them go. I think it'd just be fun to try and catch them."   
Will pondered this idea then nodded. "Yea, that does sound cool. I bet we could find something in the storage shack." He paused for a moment, then smiled evilly. "Whatever worms we don't use we could stick in Mary's bed. Bet she'd scream so loud she'd break the windows."   
Ace frowned, thoughtfully. "Isn't she still mad at you about what you did with those ice cubes?" he queried curiously.   
Will absolutely beamed. "Yea! Oh man, we just have to do it," he laughed, splashing his feet happily at the prospect. Ace sighed and rolled his eyes as he took his first steps onto the muddy shore.   
A smile came of it's own accord as the mud mushed between his toes. There was an indescribable pleasure in the way it oozed around his feet, sucking him into the dirty depths. Before the mud could claim his foot completely, he pulled it free with a satisfying sucking sound and replanted it, to start the whole process over with.   
"Hey, Ace, come here."   
Ace looked up in surprise to see Will on the streams far side, staring at the swirling water. Carefully sloshing across the slippery stream bottom, Ace made his way to Will's side.   
"What is it?" he asked, even as he joined Will in looking. Will didn't answer because there was no missing the odd colored trickle cutting along the water's path. Ace frowned, as a shiver past through him, tingling his skin.   
"What is it, Will?" he asked softly, rubbing his arms. The strange burning sensation tickled across his skin again. It was not the first time he'd felt this way. He hated it. It felt like a bunch of ants were climbing on him.   
Will dipped his hand into the thickening discoloration and pulled his fingers out. Dark crimson clung densely to his fingers as he turned his hand over, studying the droplets as they fell back to the water.   
"I think... it's blood," he said softly.   
Ace frowned, the burning sensation increasing. He shivered at it's presence. The last time this had happened was when Mickey Fulton had picked a fight with him. It had been worse then, like he had caught fire, and the longer they fought the worst it got.   
Thankfully, Mrs. Breech had pulled them apart. Ace didn't know what these strange tinglings meant, but he really didn't want to find out or experience it again.   
He tugged on Will's shirt. "Come on, Will, lets get back," Ace urged trying not to sound as nervous as he felt. If Will heard, he gave no indication. Instead, he looked thoughtfully down the stream.   
>

"Don't tell me you went to find out where the blood was coming from?" Vega interrupted suddenly, shaking Ace from his trip in to the far distant past. He glared at Vega annoyed.   
"I was six, Derek. Six year olds aren't exactly notorious for doing the smart thing," he snapped irritably. Vega blushed a little in embarrassment. He was being a bit judgmental.   
"Sorry, Ace. It's hard to think of you sometimes as just a little kid," he apologized.   
Ace smiled faintly, mollified. Vega wasn't the only one. Ace sometimes wondered if he ever had a real childhood in the first place.   
"It's okay Vega, I guarantee I couldn't imagine you as a little kid," Ace admitted. Vega chuckled.   
"Imagine a plump little tornado of destruction and you'd have a pretty good picture," he explained, with a nostalgic smile. Ace arched an eyebrow.   
"Plump?"   
Vega glared at him. "Don't you dare. Now get back to your story."   
Ace smiled and did as requested.

>   
"Come on," Will stated finally. "It's coming from upstream, let's check it out."   
"Will," Ace protested, as his friend started sloshing against the current.   
"You coming or are you chicken?" Will cat-called cheerfully. Ace hesitated, looking at the crimson water.   
"Chicken, chicken," Will kept chanting, as he moved away. That did it. If he didn't follow, Will would tell everyone he was chicken and he'd never hear the end of it.   
"Wait up," Ace called, as he started in pursuit, pushing the burning sensation from his mind as he tried not to fall into the water.   
It seemed like they had gone a long way till Will paused at a sharp bend in the stream. Ace finally caught up and noted unhappily the trickle of blood was now a third as wide as the stream itself.   
"I think I hear something," Will said softly, crouching low over the water. Ace nearly laughed at his friends attempt to be sneaky. How could you be sneaky standing in the middle of a stream with water up to your knees?   
Will made a quick gesture and Ace's humor gave way to a nervous gulp. The burning seem to mirror his discomfort as it grew more pronounced, but he strove to ignore it as he followed his friends example. Sneaking in water might be stupid, but it was better then nothing.   
Will, with Ace right behind him, peered past the thick foliage clinging to the crumbling embankment. A shadow flitted beyond the trees as the two boys let out simultaneous gasps.   
"Gross," Will declared at the sight. Ace's eye widened at the spectacle of the mangled deer carcass. He didn't want to look, but his eyes were riveted. It seemed like a small deer, brutally ripped asunder, blood and entrails trailing across the sloped embankment and draping into the streams gurgling waters.   
"Let's go," Ace hissed, all childish sense of adventure evaporating in the sight of the carnage. Numbly, Will nodded, backing away from the sight as Ace was doing.   
That was when the sound of a low growl floated across the water on a gentle breeze.   
"Ace," Will whispered, as the two boys froze. Ace couldn't answer as his eyes locked onto the rustling branches of a wild rose bush.   
Pushing it's way through the prickly wall was a scared muzzle followed by the gnarled up body of the largest dog Ace had ever seen.   
It padded toward the boys. One heavy paw silently moving in front of the other as spittle dripped from the elongated muzzle. The low rumble came again as black lips pulled back to reveal blood flecked fangs.   
They were moving without conscious thought. Slowly backing up onto the shore as the dog stared darkly at them from the opposite bank.   
Ace was surprised he could hear anything above the pounding of his heart. He didn't know a whole lot about dogs, but he knew something was wrong with this one. It looked sick, yellow eyes burning with an insane fire. It's fur was a matted wad of mud, blood and debris and scars crisscrossed it's whole face. Notched ears flicked forward, back, then forward again.   
"Will," Ace whispered fearful to his companion, hoping for once Will would actually know what to do. He shivered, as the fire grew on his skin and seem to reach inside him, but his thoughts and eyes were fully riveted on the snarling canine.   
"Will?" Ace tried again, and risked a quick look to his friend. Will had made it to the shore, but had frozen there trembling. Ace wasn't about to judge him for being scared. He was terrified himself.   
Walk away. The teachers had always said walk away.   
So Ace walked, gently tugging on Will's shirt sleeve, as he tried to get his friend to walk with him. The dog had the deer. Maybe it would leave them alone if they left it alone.   
"Come on, Will," Ace urged as Will resisted his tugs. The boy just couldn't seem to make himself move. Ace didn't want to leave him, but he sure as heck didn't want to stay. He jerked a little harder, Will stumbling back with his meaningful pull.   
After that, everything became a blur. The dog snarled. A cruel, painful announcement to it's insane intentions, as it lunged toward the water. The dog's sudden movement tore a scream out of Will as the boy turned and ran. Ace was right with him, both boys yelling for all their worth, as the dog bayed it's horrible snarl. They could just hear the sound of the water being displaced as they pushed blindly through the thick woods.   
Even though he was barefoot, Ace couldn't feel anything beyond the horrible wall of fear that had arrested his brain and demanded one thing of him.   
Run. Run like hell.   
They ran. And the baying snarl of the dog pursued them, growing louder and closer and more chilling with every step.   
"Tree," Ace screamed. "Climb up a tree!"   
Maybe not the best advice, but it was all Ace could think of. He sure didn't want to be on the ground with the baying black demon.   
He saw a young tree with a low branch he could just reach. Tree climbing was his strong suit, Ace catching the low lying extension and swinging his legs, to give himself the momentum to get on the branch.   
The dog broke into to view just as he caught the next branch up and slathering jaws snapped shut on empty air as he pulled his bare feet up. Ace didn't look. He was absolutely too petrified to look, as he reached for another branch, then another. Only when the limbs grew too thin to bare his weight did he stop, clinging to the tree trunk and staring down at the snarling mass of muscle glaring up at him from below.   
The burning fire that seemed to want to burst out of him ebbed and flowed with the beating of his heart. Breathing in great, hurried gulps, Ace was both relived and petrified. He was safe in the tree but the dog was still there on the ground.   
Maybe he could throw something at it. Maybe break off a branch.   
A mad scuttling jerked his attention over to where he found Will. Ace froze. Will had tried to climb a beech tree. The boy was clinging determinedly to the slick bark, fighting to get higher, but the next branch seemed to be just out of his reach.   
Worst, Will's frantic scrambling had gotten the attention of the mad dog.   
"Get higher, Will!" Ace screeched, as the dog leisurely started toward his tree. It's shoulders rolled with casual power and Ace swore he could see bloody satisfaction in it's feverish gaze as the slathering muzzle raised toward Will. The lips pulled back in to a grimacing smile as it issued a low, long growl.   
"Higher, Will," Ace urged, as Will lunged at the next branch, nearly tumbling from his roust in the attempt. It was all the invitation the dog needed.   
Ace watched in horror and amazement as the dog launched itself straight up, easily clearing five feet, jaws snapping shut just below the branch Will rested on.   
Will screamed as the dog landed, glaring up at him. Dogs couldn't jump that high could they? Ace wondered feverishly. Well, he mussed, this one sure could.   
Ace grabbed a nearby branch and jerked and twisted at it furtively, fear lending his small body unknown strength, as he rent the green twig free.   
"Go away," he screamed, throwing the branch. It landed short and the dog didn't even so much as grace it with a glance. It's whole attention was focused on Will above. Heavy muscles corded as it's body coiled down for another lunge.   
"Will!" Ace screamed, his voice mingling with Will's cry as the dog leapt. It seem to fly, as the yellow teeth snagged tight on the cuff of Will's pant leg. Will's scream cracked through the woods, as the brutes weight jerked him from his branch.   
There was a tearing of cloth, as Will's pant leg shredded under the attack, Will falling heavily to the ground and rolling through the leaf liter.   
Ace's heart stop as Will scrambled backwards the dog righting itself from it's awkward landing. It's head turned toward Will, the yellow eyes glittering in triumph.   
Nonononono....   
Ace wasn't even aware of his haphazard descent from the tree. He just knew he had to help his friend. He had to help Will.   
He hit the ground and stumbled, regaining his feet as the dog gave him a lazy look. For a shocking moment it seem to sum him up as nothing more than harmless and returned it's attention to Will.   
"Ace...HELP!" Will screeched, having backed himself against a tree, body shaking so hard in fear that him seemed to fairly vibrate. The dog took one step, then another, momentum slowly gaining as it's jaws dropped open to deal the killing blow.   
Ace stared wildly left, then right. A rock, a stick... anything. He had to help Will!   
Something happened then. The world was no longer the world. It was wild place of light and energy and noise. The fire that had bubbling in him seem ready to consume him. For a timeless moment, Ace forgot his fear of the dog, as a new terror rose in him. The fire burned through him, around him. It clawed over his back and down his chest and with a desperate cry of denial Ace flung his arms up wanting nothing, but for the fire to get out his body.   
To his utter amazement, the fire left. It tore out of him in a large, pale red-yellow ball, lashing across the small clearing and slamming into the dog. The brute let out a wild shriek as the energy pummeled into, tearing it's black fur and scorching it's scarred skin, as the whole beast was lifted in to the air.   
Ace never saw it smash senselessly into the tree as he collapsed. The fire had truly rent it's way out of him. It felt like it had scoured him inside and out as he stared dully at the leafy ground.   
Was he dead? He didn't think dead would feel like this, but it didn't feel like living either. Ace could only lay, gasping for breath, as the world sorted itself back into some semblance of order.   
Will. He jerked. Was Will okay? Was his friend okay?   
With what seemed like a Herculean effort, Ace staggered to his feet and looked feverishly for his friend. It was with the greatest sense of relief that Ace found Will, still pressed up against his tree. The boy was staring at the smoking corpse of the mad dog, smoke trickling up lazily from it's smoldering hide.   
Ace gave it a furtive glance. He knew the fire in him had done that. Oddly, he wonder if he should be more surprised, but he wasn't. Scared. Oh yea, he was scared, but not surprised. He pushed the thoughts aside. All that mattered was that Will was okay.   
"Will," he called happily, staggering toward his friend. Will's head snapped up at him and Ace stumbled to a halt. He didn't think it was possible, but Will seemed even more scare. His eyes were so wide they seem to fill his whole face and the trembling started again as Ace approached.   
"Will, you okay?" Ace tried, wondering why Will was looking at him like that. "Will?"   
"Stay away," Will suddenly screeched, wrenching himself to his feet and stumbling sideways. Ace froze in confusion. He looked at the dog then looked at Will. Will's eyes never left him.   
"Will. What's wrong?" he asked fearfully. Ace didn't like the way Will was looking at him. He didn't like it one bit. Will didn't need to be scare of him. He was his friend.   
"Stay away," Will screamed again, as he started to come closer. Ace ignored him, holding a hand out to him and trying to smile.   
"Will, it's just me," he said hopefully. Ace stood there, hand still raised, as Will screamed a denial and turned madly into the woods, running into the thick forest.   
"Will," Ace called softly, as a tear rolled over his cheek, leaving a thin trail in the dirt on his face.   
>

"He was more scared of me than that dog," Ace said so softly. He studied his hand, as if it was separate entity to his body.   
"He saw what I could do and he was so scared."   
Vega lowered his head respectfully. Now he understood Ace's earlier reaction.   
"We were best friends... but after that," Ace gulped and took a deep breath. "He never said anything to anyone, but he wouldn't come near me after that. There was always the fear in his eyes. Fear of me."   
Ace dropped his hand and turned his attention back to the skylight above. "I hated that fear. It hurt so much to see it in his eyes."   
"He was six. Ace. I don't think he's afraid of you anymore," Vega commented gently, wanting to ease Ace's evident pain. Ace heaved a sigh and nodded.   
"I hope so. I hope so."   
Silence settled over the room. Vega searched vainly for a way to break it. It'd had never been his intention to dredge up an obviously painful memory in his friend. As if sensing his discomfort, Ace managed a small smile.   
"Yea, I can see why Cosmo's having a hard time admitting he can sense the magic force," he said at last. Vega nodded in agreement, as Ace seem to draw himself from the past, to the here and now.   
"How do I help him, Vega? I don't want him to learn the way I did."   
Vega was thoughtfully quiet for a moment. At last he spoke. "Sometimes the hard way is the only way we learn."   
Ace shook his head in denial.   
"I've got to try and help, Derek," he sighed. Vega smiled gently.   
"Maybe try starting with that story. Let him know that you do understand. That you've been down that road before," he suggested. Ace heaved a sigh and pursed his lips thoughtfully.   
"Yea, I guess that could be a good start," he mused. "It's sure can't hurt. Not like anything else has gotten through to him."   
Vega laughed. One determined magician was going to go against one stubborn teen. Again.   
"You can only try, Ace. It's up to Cosmo to decide," he reminded firmly. Ace nodded at his assessment, smiling.   
"Thanks, Vega."   
"No problem." Vega waved it off, then blushed in embarrassment, as he stomach rumbled it's discontentment. A quick glance at his watch showed it being well past he's dinner time.   
"Oh oh, sounds like it's time to pay my therapist," Ace teased lightly. Vega glowered halfheartedly then laugh.   
"Damn straight. I think dinner at Howard's would be a fitting payment," he declared, shoving himself off the couch. Ace rose a bit more gracefully as the two headed for the door.   
"My treat then," Ace decided, waving off any possibly protests Vega might raise. He paused at the door, long enough to address his old friend.   
"Thanks again, Vega, for everything," he offered with a smile. Vega grinned and couldn't resist a swipe at Ace's white forehead lock.   
"No problem, skunk stripe."   
Ace groaned and rolled his eyes.   
"I am never telling you anymore stories, Vega," he declared unhappily, in the light of Vega's laughter.   
  



End file.
